MARQUETTE – The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team has been in a funk, and just when it appeared the Wildcats would snap out of it, they came up short.

On Saturday against Ferris State, rebounds were the problem as the Bulldogs crashed the boards well and found easy lanes to the basket in a 70-61 win at the Berry Events Center.

FSU’s James Chappell led all scorers with 21 points, while Donnell Cegers paced the Wildcats with 15. Both players also led their team in rebounding, Chappell with 10 and Cegers seven, as Chappell also had three blocked shots and three assists and Cegers three steals.

“It’s pretty simple,” NMU head coach Bill Sall said. “They had 20 offensive rebounds and that is the tale of the tape. Second-chance points absolutely just killed us in this game.

“I thought we played really well in spaces, and that’s a good team. In my opinion, that’s the most talented team in the conference.

“We could not rebound today. They’re very good, but that’s the will to win. That’s kind of the thing where we’re at. When you watch us play, we execute some good stuff on offense. Defensively we play well, we still make some mistakes, but mistakes happen in basketball.

“There are game-winning plays and unfortunately right now, we don’t make those plays yet.”

Jordan Perez contributed 14 points to the NMU effort while Marcus Hall had 13. For Ferris, Josh Fleming scored 15 and Jared Stolicker 10.

Ferris took the lead for good about 5 1/2 minutes before the break, building its advantage to as many as 13 points near the midpoint of the second half.

But Northern fought its way back as a Cegers breakaway dunk cut the Bulldogs’ lead to four, 61-57, with 2:15 left. However, Ferris answered with a trey by Fleming and a dunk by Chappell in the next minute to clinch it.

“We get it down to four and that was a huge comeback,” Sall said. “That took a lot of energy and heart. Now, they run a baseline out-of-bounds play that we have worked on, we know how to guard and we know what we have to be able to do.

“Then we allow them to get a 3 and it’s a seven-point game. That’s a game-changing play and in order to win, you have to make those game-winning plays. You need to be there in the close-out.

“That’s just one example, but it’s all those things combined into one. It’s frustrating as a coach because we’re not that far away. It’s there, but until we can figure out that portion of these games, they’re going to end up like they did today.”

Ferris led 32-29 at the half and continued to work the ball in the paint for easy buckets. The Bulldogs went up by 10, 48-38, with 12:16 remaining on two free throws by Fleming, while a Noah King jumper gave them their biggest lead at 55-42 with 8:45 to go.

Northern wouldn’t go away, though, as Cegers’ led the charge with two jumpers and a layup over the next four minutes to pull the Wildcats within five, 57-52, with 5:01 left.

During the first half, play was even early on as the teams often traded baskets. A trey from Hall from the top of the key gave NMU a 13-9 lead with 13:18 left. Ferris came back to tie it and the game went back to be being a seesaw affair.

After NMU took a two-point lead on an Alex Mustert layup, Ferris took control as the Bulldogs embarked on an 11-0 run that gave them a 30-21 advantage with 2:08 remaining in the half.

A 3-pointer by Perez and basket by Kenny Williams cut Northern’s deficit to three points at the break.

NMU will try to end its three-game skid at Saginaw Valley State Thursday.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.